Table of contents - RISA Musical Instruments

Table of contents
Introduction.……………………………………………….... 2
How to read this book……………………………………… 3
About the CD……………………………………………….. 4
Single note solos…………………………………………… 6
Page CD Track
Harlem nocturne...…………………….... 6……………1
Peter Gunn....………………………….... 11……………2
Chord solos..............………………………………………. 14
Frère Jaques………..………………….. 14
Notes and chords on the ukulele fretboard……………… 16
1000+ chords on one page…………………………………17
Chord solo recipe…………………………………………... 18
Happy birthday……………..……………18
Love me tender…..…………………….. 20……………3
Arrangement tips & tricks………………………………….. 22
If I fell……..……………………………... 23……………4
The girl from Ipanema……...………….. 28…………... 5
Mr. Sandman………...……………........ 32……………6
I’m beginning to see the light…...…….. 39……………7
Ukulele arrangements from standard notation………….. 45
St. Louis Blues………………………….. 45……………8
The Entertainer…………………………. 50……………9
Solo techniques to accompany songs…………………… 55
Caledonia……..………………………… 55……………10
Sweet home Chicago………..………… 62..................11
Appendix…………………………………………………….. 68
Reading chord charts and tablatures…..... 68
Tablatures and standard notation……..…. 69
1000+ chords on one page……………….. 71
Chord charts……………………………...... 72
Circle of fifths………………………………. 74
Transposing songs………………………… 75

Introduction
Rigk Sauer
From the author
Welcome to “The Ukulele Solo Recipe”. My name
is Rigk Sauer and I was born in 1964. My first
instrument was the electric organ, which I took up
in 1975. After experimenting with other
instruments and different styles of music, I
eventually settled on playing piano in the boogiewoogie
style.
In 2000, my wife Barbara thought we should take
guitar lessons, but I refused because I felt there
were already too many guitar players in this world.
Around that time, we saw a TV show with Stefan
Raab, who is a famous German uke player. I
thought the uke was much cooler than guitar, and
so we both started playing it. I bought my first uke,
a Brüko soprano, and since that day, I almost
always carry a uke with me wherever I go.
After playing for a while I began to get ideas for
new ukulele designs, so I founded RISA Musical
Instruments in December 2001 to turn those ideas
into reality. One of the first instruments I designed
was the Uke-Solid, which became a very popular
electric ukulele.
Not long after taking up the uke, I visited several
ukulele festivals in the USA, attended many
workshops, and met lots of fine players. I wanted
to learn more about ukulele solo techniques,
especially the chord soloing of musicians like Lyle
Ritz. But all I heard in the workshops was,
“practice, practice, practice” with very little
information of where to begin. In one workshop,
Lyle told us to “noodle around as much as you
can.” At that moment, I made the decision to share
my “ukulele noodling experience” with others,
because the step from standard strumming to solo
styles is the most difficult.
This book shares my experience in learning
ukulele solo techniques. It was written for the
common soprano C-tuning (GCEA with high G),
but the fingerings will work on concerts, and
tenors, as well. However, be open-minded and
experiment with other tunings to get most out of
the ukulele.
Introduction
2
I limited all arrangements to 13 frets, because this
is what you still can play on a standard 12 fret uke
by pressing your finger on the fretboard where the
13th fret is supposed to be.
I like to thank my wife Barbara for all her support
during this project. Not only did she put up with my
all-night writing sessions, she is also responsible
for the layout and design of this book.
Thanks to Michael Simmons and Andreas David
for their support and assistance.
About the editor
Michael Simmons is the co-editor of the Ukulele
Occasional. He started playing electric guitar in
punk bands as a teenager before being converted
to acoustic music by a rabid Django Reinhardt fan.
He spent 15 years working at Gryphon Stringed
Instruments in Palo Alto, California, where he
learned a great deal about the construction and
history of ukuleles, guitars, mandolins, and banjos.
Simmons is the review editor at Fiddler Magazine
and is a frequent contributor to the magazines
Acoustic Guitar and Guitarmaker. He contributed
entries on the Santa Cruz Guitar Company,
Selmer, and Taylor to Acoustic Guitars: The
Illustrated Encyclopedia and he’s the author of
Taylor Guitars: 30 Years of a New American
Classic and the co-author of Akustische Gitarren :
Alles über Konstruktion und Historie.

How to read this book
This book is written for ukulele players who
already have some experience with the
instrument. Basics like holding, strumming, picking
and tuning the ukulele are not covered.
You should also be familiar with chord charts and
tablature. An understanding of standard notation
and transposition would also be helpful. If you
need to refresh your knowledge in these areas,
check out the appendix starting on page 68.
At the beginning of each song you will find a brief
discussion of the playing techniques as well as
arranging hints. The following four symbols are
used throughout the book to introduce new topics:
1. New song icon
Introduces new song.
Song title
2. Information icon
General information about the song, including
fingering tips and musical analysis.
General information.
3. Step icons
Some arrangements are explained in complete,
step-by-step detail. Following each step will help
you understand the thinking behind the musical
choices.
Step 1
1
Step 2
4. Keep-in-mind icon
General tips & tricks, which can also be used on
other arrangements are shown in a grey box under
the keep-in-mind-icon.
2
General tips & tricks for your solo arrangements.
3
Listen to the corresponding CD track before you
work on a song. Follow each step and play the
examples and alternative arrangements to
understand how the final song was arranged. It will
help you to create your own arrangements.
Once you understood the different methods of
arranging, you can start to arrange your own
favorite songs. You can use the appendix as a
reminder of the various arranging techniques.
If you only want to play the songs in this book, and
you are not interested in writing own song
arrangements, then you can immediately jump to
the final arrangements. The final song
arrangement, which was also used to record the
CD is indicated by a CD-Track # under the song
name.
How to read this book

St. Louis Blues
CD-Track 8
St. Louis Blues 48
Music by William C. Handy
Arrangement by Rigk Sauer